2008 Woodie Awards
Community service may be ticket to college
By Jaime Rodriguez-International School of the Americas
Issue date: 5/18/06 Section: Urban Journalism Workshop
Originally published: 6/22/06 at 5:41 PM CSTLast update: 7/13/06 at 2:40 PM CST
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Colleges expect potential students to lend a helping hand in the community. Colleges want to see students involved, said Doug Smith, regional director of College Prospects of America, a national firm that helps student athletes find colleges.
Community service shows that teens are "not self-centered ... and also sends a strong message to colleges," said Smith, who is based in San Antonio.
Smith said he will not even consider helping a student athlete who has fewer than five school or community activities outside of sports. Instead, he said, he sends them out to get more involved.
Sara Judith Guerra, 19, a 2004 graduate of Edison High School, said she volunteered about 600 hours throughout her high school years. Now, that community service is paying for her college.
In 2004, Guerra received the Richard and Martha Landsman Community Service Scholarship, a United Way award based primarily on community service. The scholarship is paying her tuition for four years at the University of Texas Health Science Center, where she is studying nursing.
Guerra has volunteered at St. Francis Nursing Home, Christus Santa Rosa Hospital and the Lighthouse Gospel Mission.
She said community service has "allowed me to step out of my box and into theirs" and that "life is not always about ourselves."
More and more colleges and universities are looking for that extra life experience, said Shanda Ivory, director of communications at the National Association for College Admission Counseling. A growing number are requiring community service for admission, though Ivory said she has not seen anything that quantifies just how many now require it.
"Community service allows students to bring more to an institution than just academics," Ivory said.
At Southern Methodist University, admissions counselor Hilary Bowman said the staff tries to take a holistic approach with applicants and weigh everything equally. But, with the choice between a student with stellar grades and test scores and an identical student with community service, "the student with the more robust résumé is definitely going to look a lot better."
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